The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) has chosen Nancy Keenan, a former state legislator from Montana, as its new president. The change comes at a moment when the national abortion group is attempting to rally support for its fight against conservative judicial nominees who may overturn the activist Roe v. Wade decision that created an unconstitutional right to abortion in the US. Keenan replaces Kate Michaelman who stepped down as interim president in May.
The NARAL press release announcing Keenan's appointment as president depicts her as a hero and lauds the “strength of her personal leadership when she stood up to a public effort to excommunicate her from the Catholic Church.”
“It was a very personal experience for me having been born and raised Catholic,” Keenan said. “It was very, very big.” That is not, however, how the diocesan Chancellor remembers it. LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Fr. John Robertson, Chancellor of Keenan's home diocese of Helena, Montana. The story comes from a 1989 incident when Keenan was a Montana legislator. She was reproved by Elden F. Curtiss, then bishop of Helena, after having spoken at a pro-abortion rally. She was asked by the bishop to come in to discuss her views privately.
“Our bishop had a discussion with her with regard to taking a more pro-life stance,” said Robertson. Fr. Robertson denied that there had been any question of excommunication, a penalty that is considered a last resort in the Catholic Church. “She made her statement in the public press, and it was after having read about it in the newspaper that the bishop took the initiative of calling her.”
In her public statements, Keenan has thus far been ambiguous about whether she intends to continue claiming to be a Catholic. Fr. Robertson said, “I understood that (Keenan) had withdrawn herself from the practice of the Catholic Faith.”
Keenan said, upon getting the top NARAL job, “I really believe that pro-choice is an American value and that it is shared by women and men across the country.”
Fr. Robertson told LifeSiteNews.com that the current bishop of Helena, Bishop George L. Thomas, would want to review all the facts of the situation before making any public statement. Bishop Thomas, who was appointed in June of this year, was not available for comment.
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
